@Nick G....you are correct about the grants stipulation, you have to hold on to the property for a period of 10 yrs ( which i do not mind as i have a young child) or you pay back that money

The loan is 30 yrs with 20% down

So Option # 5 would be to do absolutely NOTHING, and you would more likely than not be just fine 5 yrs down the road.

:)   or not do it at all and do the buy and stay 2 years a simple and cheap SFH creating a string of SFR's behind you every 2 yrs. 

You can only take 50% of the balance, and if it's not for your primary residence, you have to pay it back quicker (5 vs. 10 yrs i think?).    

He is retired at 57 yrs old, and was looking into this venture.

It does seem an important part of the strategy is having large chunk of change in 30 yrs to pay the taxes.

I am going to be relocating to St Augustine in the next two yrs.

I know I'm 5 yrs late to this post but I'd love to chat with you and pick your brain @Santos since my husband and I are thinking of going into this business as well here in AZ.

The greater the likelihood you'll own the building for greater than 30 yrs, then you need to correspondingly veer towards using PVC (which will last longer).